Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande-Butera (born June 26, 1993), known professionally as Ariana Grande, is an American actress, singer, and dancer. She made her performance debut on Broadway at age 15, originating the role of Charlotte in 13 in 2008. Recently, she has gained attention for her role as Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon sitcom Victorious, which she will reprise in Sam & Cat, a spinoff of iCarly and Victorious. She is best friends with actress Elizabeth Gillies, who starred as Lucy in the play 13 and also as Jade West in Victorious. She also starred in Actor Graham Phillips's Music video, Unfriend you, Graham had also starred in 13 as Evan Goldman, with Ariana and Liz. Early Life Grande was born and raised in Boca Raton, Florida. She is of Italian descent, half Sicillian, half Abruzzese. Her name was inspired by Princess Oriana from Felix and the Cat. Grande's parents are Joan Grande and Edward Butera, a graphic designer. She has an older brother, Frankie Grande, who is a performer and producer and played her brother on Victorious. He also was one of Grande's backup dancers on her first tour. Grande sang as a soloist in various symphonies, such as South Florida’s Philharmonic, Pops and Symphonia Orchestras. She has sung various times in NYC's Birdland and sang the National Anthem on the first live broadcast of the Florida Panther’s hockey league. Career In her early years, she has been a soloist with various symphonies including South Florida’s Philharmonic, Pops and Symphonia Orchestras, and has had repeated appearances singing at NYC’s own Birdland.10 Ariana performed the National Anthem for the first live Fox Sports broadcast of the Anthem for the Florida Panther’s hockey league at age eight, her first National TV performance. In 2008, Grande played the role of Charlotte in the musical 13 on Broadway, for which she won a National Youth Theatre Association Award. When she joined the musical, Grande left her high school, North Broward Preparatory School, but continued to be enrolled. The school sent materials to her so she could study with tutors. In 2010, she created the original role of Miriam in the reading of the new musical, Cuba Libre, written and produced by Desmond Child Grande played the character Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon television show Victorious, which premiered in March 2010. Grande was also featured in Dream Magazine as the cover girl for the August 2011 issue.12 In 2011, Ariana voiced an animated fairy, Princess Diaspro, on the Nickelodeon series, Winx Club. Grande also made appearances as a panelist on Figure It Out. Grande starred as Snow White along with Charlene Tilton and Neil Patrick Harris in the Pasadena Playhouse's production of A Snow White Christmas from December 13–23, 2012. In 2012, Grande sang a duet with MIKA on the single version of his track Popular Song. It was announced during the network's presentation at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour on August 3, 2012 that Sam & Cat, which would pair Grande from Victorious and Jennette McCurdy from iCarly together in a traditional "buddy sitcom" setting, where they would reprise their roles as Cat Valentine and Sam Puckett. Sam & Cat was picked up by Nickelodeon on November 29, 2012. The pilot suggests they will be roommates who launch a babysitting business for income. In the following month it was also announced that Victorious's current season (Season 3, which was split to a fourth season) will be the last. Grande tweeted stating that she wasn't hoping for it to end and was looking forward to being on both shows. It was announced the third soundtrack was released on November 6, 2012 titled as "Victorious 3.0. The first single is called "LA Boyz" (which was performed by Grande and Justice) and the music video was released October 18. Grande is working on her first studio album, Daydreamin', which is due for release in early 2013. Grande commented on the album saying: "They can expect a lot of honesty. It's like a direct... you know, it's like it used to be pages from my diary, instead of keeping diary, I would write songs about what was happening in my life. So it's really personal. It's a Motown throwback and pop at the same time, so it's '50s and '60s inspiration mixed with today." The album was inspired by artists like Amy Winehouse, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys, Fergie, Katy Perry, Madonna and other like these. Grande worked with artists like Sky Blue from LMFAO, 3OH!3, Kool Kojak, and Pebe Sebert on the album. She was also working in the studio with Jonas Brothers singer Nick Jonas. It was stated by Grande in an interview that the second single from her debut album would be released around Valentine's Day of 2013. Category:Cast Category:Actors and actresses